Organizing fellows: Meeting President Obama in Iowa City

May 1, 2012

Our Obama organizing fellows are hard at work building neighborhood and campus teams across the country. As the spring fellowship continues, we’ll hear from a few of the organizers about their experiences.

Last week, a few friends and I had the chance to travel to Iowa City to hear the President speak. I had to repeat it to myself just to process my excitement: “Wednesday. President Obama. Iowa City. You’re invited.”

The President visited Iowa to talk to students about keeping college affordable and granting students access to low-interest loans. Keeping college affordable is so important to me because I never would have been able to attend college in the first place if it weren’t for student loans.

And it’s not just me. As the President understands, college affordability is absolutely essential for our generation. I hope to get my master’s degree in public policy planning or a related program. I hope to get a job in the public sector to better my community. Without graduating from college, getting to do the work I want to do would be much more difficult.

My friends and I arrived early and made it to the front of the rope line. In what was one of the most exciting moments of my life, I got to shake President Obama’s hand and thank him for all he has done.

As an organizing fellow since last September, I’ve made a lot of calls, attended a lot of meetings and events, and had many conversations with voters. Shaking the President’s hand made everything that much more real for me, more personal. We’ve all got to work together to give our President a much-deserved second term.

Stay tuned for more from Zach and other organizing fellows this spring.